


We're all heroes here, right?

by Wisetypewriter



Series: Linked Universe stuff [5]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Betrayal, Crack, Gen, Sort Of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:21:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25060789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wisetypewriter/pseuds/Wisetypewriter
Summary: It is time for the final battle.Unfortunately for Hylia's plans, Dark Link has noticed the inner demons plaguing her chosens. He knows that one of them has turned away from the light. He knows that today is not the day he is defeated.Technically, Dark Link is correct.
Series: Linked Universe stuff [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1599469
Comments: 12
Kudos: 232





	We're all heroes here, right?

It was all coming together. The great showdown between the Heroes of Courage and their shadow. The ultimate conflict between legends and their inner demons given form. Soon, the demon thought to himself, soon, the pieces would fall into place, and only darkness would stand triumphant in blood.

"Surrender, Dark Link," the one they called Warriors demanded, sword raised in askance.

" **Me? Surrender?** " he asked, gleeful. " **When it is finally time for you to listen to your repressed darkness? I know it, I see in your hearts, and long ago, you've fallen to temptation, to anger, to hatred. Why don't you reveal yourself, Fallen Hero?** "

Shock covered all faces, none too slow or too quick to materialize. Expected. No hero that had turned his back on the goddesses could hope to survive eight of his heroic companions if they found out. But here and now, before the throne of the royal family, in the presence of a potent ally...

Nervous glances flew between them. The poor heroes. They could not possibly  _ believe  _ that one of their own, one they had  _ trusted  _ so long would suddenly turn cloak. They wouldn't believe it! But on the off-chance... if there ever was a possibility...

The harmonious, almost elegant formation loosened. Its members more tense. Backs shifted away from others, subtly, at first.

It was all Dark Link had known it to be. If only one of them shouted 'Liar!', it would make the perfect cue for the fallen hero to reveal himself and take his rightful place at his side. Then, together, Tainted Light and Bloody Shadow would storm the Sacred Realm.

So easy. Trauma had erected walls between them, and now, none could move before it was too late.

Victory was his!

"Alright, fuck it!" Legend suddenly broke, nimbly jumping back away from the others. "I'm the one!  _ I  _ have had it with the quests and the trials and the tears every time a god wakes up from its post-orgy nap and realizes that thousands are suffering somewhere. I've spent more years away from home than within at this point. I endured and endured and then..."

Silence reigned for the span of a troubled heartbeat.

Legend's gaze searched and found Twilight, and the anger shining found a mirror.

"Then that  _ fucking  _ fish ripped my last hope for happiness away from me."

"Veteran..."

"Traitor," Warriors sneered, his weapon drawn.

Flames lit at the tip of Legend's fire rod, casting their glow upon his tempered sword. "Well, even if I hadn't been one, I still would have wanted to punch you in the face, Captain."

Dark Link muffled his own cackling, for fear it would spur the heroes away from this outcome. A drawn-out battle between heroes, weakening both sides before he could swoop in and massacre the rest. Oh, it was just as he had hoped when he had sensed the hidden darkness below the heroic spirit they all carried.

They were conflicted, hesitant. Easier preys, a balancing factor in the soon-to-be fight. A few, more decisive, but the deciding moment, the instant that would cut this moment from history as the triumph of darkness, had yet to come. A question was ignored, discarded outright. And Legend's expression tightened. Braced itself for violence...

"Wait!" called a man's voice.

That part, Dark Link  _ hadn't  _ anticipated.

The heroes froze, metal clanking where swords were hastily pulled back and bonked against armors or shields. Then, one broke away from the group, standing taller than his fellow traitor, with more hesitation.

"I can't do this. You'll have to do it to me too."

"Twilight?!" gasped Wild, though for some reason, it didn't sound as betrayed as it should have.

"Pup...?" Time asked, his gaze heavy. Not yet hostile.

Twilight rubbed the back of his neck, his slanted grin a good display of country boy charm. "Yeah, me too. For the same reason, actually. I... I never asked for it, spirits and gods toyed with me and convinced the one I love that she should exile herself away from me forever. I ain't proud." He paused when Legend shouted 'fuck that!' and pondered. "But I want my pound of flesh. Honestly, I didn't think I'd get  _ this  _ far." He lifted a hand a summoned an energy ball black as night. "I use dark magic all the time. Thought one of you would have beheaded me by now."

Four, Time and Wild nodded, forced to concede the point. "I suppose it says something when your inner self is a feral predator that tears monsters' throats out," Four said. "Though, for the magic, that's more understandable, I think the only one that can really tell is... "

As he trailed off, his eyes widened, and so did the rest. Warriors gasped and scurried away from their wanderer.

Legend looked as if the Wind Fish had smacked him in the face. Jaw slack, and a faint shimmer of hope behind a whole lot of shock.

"Well, I wasn't going to say anything," Hyrule said, biting his lips. "I didn't want to be judgemental. Also, the hero before me went on like, ten quests and the world is still a desolated apocalyptic wasteland. Everything's poisonous or venomous, or some strange combination of both. I never knew water was drinkable before meeting you. I saved two different princesses and neither rewarded me with riches, so I've decided to pull the plug before a third needy damsel pushes me through months of fighting for my life against hordes of monsters."

With tears in his eyes, Legend rushed to envelop his successor into a manly hug.

Dark Link slowly raised his sword, clearing his throat. " **Pardon, Heroes of Courage? And Traitors against the Goddesses, I guess, perhaps we-** "

"Speaking of post-apocalyptic worlds," Wild began, not noticing he cut off their archenemy.

Twilight's breath hitched, his eyes suddenly watery. He seemed to be fighting a smile. "Cub?"

"Hylia  _ really  _ fucked up the timing of her divine intervention, " he said with a shrug. "I lost everyone except Zelda. Even lost myself. And yet, she never says a word... I just... I do hate her."

A bear hug cut off the tears before they could fall. Twilight lifted his little brother off the ground, whispered reassurances in his ears whilst his wolf hood was used to bury Wild's face into. The remaining Links let them share the moment, looked aside despite the uneasy detente this sudden spill of secrets had caused.

"Well, if we're playing cards on the table..." was Four's preface.

Groans mixed in with a growing sense of incredulity.

Four shot a wistful look to their common enemy, then back to a small, pocket mirror. His reflection's lips were a thin line. "My brother might have been born of darkness, but he had light in him too. He didn't deserve to fade away into nothing... I'd do anything to get him back."

He looked up again, a hint of nerves in his stance, but otherwise decisive. Twilight opened up his free arm and invited him with a wink. For once, there wasn't a protest at being treated like a kid. Just a quick sidehug and a few smirks exchanged on the side of evil.

"So," Legend drawled, waggling eyebrows at Warriors, "looks like you're outnumbered now. Five to four. Still interested in some vigilante justice?"

Warriors pinched his lips together. A series of emotions flashed in his eyes, his stance, and that would have been fine and good, except Legend, for all he wore the tag of an uncaring bastard, knew his companions very well by that point. It wasn't exactly horror that came to the front of his mind.

"... Seriously? You called me 'traitor!' Turned on me and everything!"

Warriors' expression twisted again. He tried his usual nonchalant hairflip but only managed to dishevel it some more. "What? I had to be convincing. How was I supposed to know I wasn't the only one with resentment issues?"

Hyrule snorted. "We share the same spirit, don't we?"

Something dawned on Twilight, his face lighting up, hope renewed, but before he could act on it, Legend tilted his head. A smirk sharp enough to draw blood.

"So, what's your story, captain? Lost your shampoo?"

"Was turned on by most soldiers in my own unit for being the target of a lustful stalking sorceress.  _ Apparently _ ," he drawled, venom on his tongue, "it was my fault the war happened. I shouldn't have  _ existed _ . And those were people I'd fought side-by-side with for years. Imagine what strangers think."

The Links winced.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Legend said, and by all accounts, meant it.

"... Thanks."

The moment passed. They shuffled awkwardly. Neither very willing to say much after an unexpected heart to heart.

A little way away from the rest, Time frowned. "Didn't you lead the army to victory though?" he asked, pensive.

Tossing his arms in the air, Warriors huffed. "Well, yeah, I wanted revenge on the sorceress too!"

Dark Link gulped. All eight of the Chosen Heroes had nodded in unison at the explanation. Discreetly, he took a couple of steps back toward the darker corners of the throne room with a thought for the nearest exit.

(Unfortunately, Dark Link had, very consciously, chosen a room with no exit to avoid any chance of his preys escaping. He thus saw a crucial flaw with that plan.)

A few feet away, the tension had all but melted. "Old Man?" called an hopeful Twilight.

"After a decade of peace fighting through the trauma of my adventures and finally getting to marry the woman of my life, I did not take the call to adventure well." His hand went to his adventurer's pouch and his items, where his descendant knew a certain mask had been hidden. "I came prepared this time around. What's one more dead god if it means this is the last time I'm stolen away from my family? Although," he added, glancing at the assembled fallen heroes, "I had not anticipated my family growing this large this quickly."

"Sap," Warriors said, but he strongly patted Time on the back nonetheless. "So, that's seven now? Sky, anything you want to confess?"

The question, it seemed, wasn't even an 'if' anymore. More of a polite 'why?'. The unspoken undertone had similarly evolved to suggest that 'why not?' would be considered an acceptable answer at this point.

Sky wilted under the pressure. "I tried. To break the curse, I mean. Demise's curse. I found the triforce, spoke with the goddesses." The soft angles of Sky's face sharpened. "But it was pointless! Couldn't do it. Wouldn't. T-they told me that the wheels of fate had turned or some bullshit and I just had to  _ make peace _ with the idea that my Zelda, that my reincarnations and hers would be plagued by a demon god for all eternity! I know Hylia... Zelda's different. She's hylian. We belong to one another."

The general surprise brought a blush to his face.

Clearing his throat, he said: "Anyway, erm, yeah, I'm doing it for my Zelda, our descendants and, well, all of you. I'm sorry I didn't solve this in my own lifetime, but since we have the opportunity."

"Attaboy, Chosen," Legend crooned. "I knew my inner bastard had to come from somewhere."

Loving teasing followed  _ that  _ comment.

As one, eight heroes turned toward Wind, who had yet to speak. Unbothered, he shrugged, his giant bone hammer hefted across his shoulders.

"What? I told you guys I'm a pirate. Raiding, pillaging, treasure hunting and underage drinking, all that. Hell, the closest thing to a dad I have is a cowardly conman who works me to the bone. I'm down for some godslaying."

Warriors and Sky highfived him. Which was followed by a noogie, a punch to someone's kidney and a bit of a chase around the throne room. All under the (non-evil) laughter of the onlookers.

Then, it dawned on them.

"So, we could have dropped the charade  _ from the very beginning? _ " Legend asked, incredulous. Months of pretending! Dancing around the subject!

With a sigh and a mumble that might have been a 'typical', Warriors nodded. "That's what happens when members of a team keep secrets from each other."

"To be fair," Four said, "we had good reasons to believe we should keep our true allegiances secret. Who wants to say 'I'm a disciple of darkness' to eight heroes of legend?"

"Hmm, hello?" Legend waved at himself, unamused.

Time breathed deeply, a twitch working under his jaw. "Never say that again," he hissed. At the curious looks he got, he added: "You wouldn't understand."

"So," Twilight said, clasping hands together, "how do we go about this then? Does anything change or...?"

"Besides the obvious?" Wild snarked.

"Yeah, besides that," Twilight replied, equally deadpan.

Warriors slid back between them with his usual flourish, though his focus was spread across the whole group. "I say we need to at least re-establish our priorities, now that it's out in the open."

Thus, they gathered much closer than before, shoulders to shoulders. Dark Link had long abandoned the idea of a surprise attack. Messing with heroes was fun, idiots had lines they didn't cross.  _ Those  _ gremlins he'd led on a wild goose chase apparently had more teeth than sharks. Evil, malice-infected sharks.

"Alright, so we are in agreement," Time said once the group talk had ended, "we will kill all the gods and remake the world in our images. Lost loved ones will be restored as will lost civilizations. Orphans and toddlers won't be drafted into hopeless battle against monstrosities. Sleeping-in will not be a pipe dream. Water will be drinkable. As will be booze."

Wind pouted. "I still say the booze to water ratio should be higher."

Warriors chuckled and ruffled his hair. "One cannot live entirely on booze, little brother."

Wind shot him a weirded out look. "What are you talking about? The hell do you think pirates live on?"

A gloved hand moved between the two before the argument could be taken seriously.

"There will be time to discuss the details later. For now, we ought to make progress on our primary objective."

At this very moment, one of the pillars in the throne room wobbled and toppled over, crashing with such ruckus that even a comatose Sky would have been awakened. Behind the dust cloud created from the impact, a frozen Dark Link stared at them all with the confidence of the mouse before a pack of wolves.

"Well, this is awkward."

"Shut up, Legend," Twilight groaned. "Just because we're all openly evil instead of covertly doesn't mean you should snark more."

"Bite me, wolfboy."

"You wanna go, bunnyboy?"

Warriors separated them. It was far too early to lose someone to in-fighting. At least a day needed to go by before that would be considered acceptable. There were rules to proper evil forces, after all.

"Right, anyway, Dark Link," - Time smiled tightly, eight bloodthirsty fallen heroes behind him, eyes alit with malice - "how about we make a deal?"

**Author's Note:**

> And thus, Ragnarok.


End file.
